GTA craving.

Ok, so GTA is my bread&butter of videogames. I always am playing some GTA, alongside other games. Sometimes I like driving around, sometimes I do some race or event, sometimes (ok, most of the timeS) I just destroy everything in sigh and cause havok. The thing is, I got to a point where I don't know which GTA to play anymore.

GTA3 I actually never liked.
GTAVC is awesome, finished it about 5-6 times, but has started to feel a bit "outdated".
GTASA is my absolute favourite, finished it 12+ times, but is starting to feel outdated too, and I played it too much.
GTAIV sucks (shit story, shit and small map for driving around), but looks nice.

I own but haven't played Ballad of Gay Tony and Liberty City Stories. Are they any good? Do they share the same map as GTAIV? Would anyone recommend them? What's their "post-storyline" value?

 

Both expansion packs are good but I would recommend Gay Tony. Imo it's better than GTA 4, it's a lot less "serious" and features parachutes and some cool new weapons. The entire map is also unlocked from the start. The Lost is alright but it's more serious and I can't stand the yellow filter R* applied to the visuals. They both take place on the same map as GTA IV.

The multiplayer was nice too (despite GFWL) but most of the more original game modes were pretty much abandoned the last time I checked.

http://gta.wikia.com/Multiplayer_in_GTA_IV#Modes


Also you forgot to list the best GTA games

If you own a DS or PSP you should definitely try out Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.

 

I assumed that was understood. Also, honestly, despite the superior gameplay, you can't really "just drive around and enjoy/blowup the scenery", in those.

 

There is series on older consoles - Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories. Both are on the same maps from originals yet with characters that appears/mentionet in these games.
Or grab GTA: Chinatown Wars and steal cars and deal with various "entertaining materials".
Or try Getaway.

Better to play on emulators, got one of those on PSP (when I have it) and controling was horrible without second analog (yes, PSP have only one) yet they got potential.
And I actually liked GTA3 more despite horrible shooting controls.

 

Have you tried Sleeping Dogs?

 

Just Cause 2 has a shit-ton of destructible props and buildings. The grapling mechanic is fun as shit (drag people from your car, drag yourself over buildings or to cars and so on). You can jump on-top of a moving car/plane and shoot baddies from up there, or hop from vehicle to vehicle. The world is fuck-big, plenty of times bigger than San Andreas.
My favorite part was taking a flying mod and just exploring around, like in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWK0vrsPprc

One of the best things I've done in a video game

 

i crave dicks in my ass

If you haven't already, try Saints Row 2. It's GTA San Andreas's brotha from another mama.

 

Just Cause 2: great game, is played it quite a bit, but couldn't get much out of it after everything was completed
Sleeping Dogs: I did not like this one that much, maybe I shall give it another try/chance at some point
Saints Row 3/4: same, also too "scifi" to my liking

The thing is, no game actually ever had much "replay" value to me, not as much as GTASA does. Truly, no game ever had that "I'll fire it up for some 20 minutes just to drive around a bit and blow some shit up" effect on me as much as SA had. It could be that I've grown really attached to the franchise and especially to the SA settings.

 

a GTA thread without GTA1 and 2 in it = GTFO.

 

You could just buy a PS3 and get GTA V

 

Or wait for PC release, soon.
On the other had he could buy PS3 for Red Dead Redemption. Srsly, Rockstar could not release GTA4 and LA Noire on PC and instead - give RDR. Better deal.

 

What about SR 2?

 

Never tried it "seriously", I played some 5 hours of it upon release, then I was like "fuck this, feels like made-in-PRc-GTASA...". I remember being particularly raging at the vehicle controls.

 

You should try it again with the Gentlemen of the Row mod.

 

I really liked Saints Row 2. Somehow it feels more like a 3D version of the 2D GTAs than the newer 3D GTAs.

You might want to try Mafia, it's more story driven and straight forward than a GTA game (no mini-games and only a few side missions) but it's really good, bonus if you dig mobster stories from the pre-1950s. Mafia 2 has popamole shootan, but it isn't bad per se, had fun with that one too.

 

I want to like Saints Row 2, the game just has absolutely horrible performance for some reason and can get slide-showy just by driving around in a car. : x

 

SR2 PC port is terrible. But this is still the best part of the series.

 

Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories aren't on PC?

Vice City Stories sold 4.5 million copies and Liberty City Stories sold 8 million (those are BIG numbers), and they'd probably do well on steam.

 

LC Stories -is- on PC, I installed it during the weekend and will give it a serious try tonight. The 30' of BOGT I played so far seemed ok, and it already gave me a better vibe than GTAIV. Fingers crossed.

 

Weird, it's identical to San Andreas in that aspect.

 

Nostalgia gogles in work it seems....

 

It's a subtle effect, but the handling in GTA games feels better. They're both going for the arcade feeling but it just feels really odd in SR. Driving was always my least favorite part in those games.

I don't know how those motherfuckers do it, but Rockstar always has that touch, that attention to details and world building that most other clones often fail to achieve. Even a blandfest like GTA IV made me explore it fairly thoroughly and enjoy just driving around, climbing on buildings and shit, listen to the radio stations and so on. The only other games that made me feel like that were the Mafia and Batman games, though they're not in the same genre or anything.

 

I felt the same, but then upgraded my PC and then vehicle handling felt much more adequate. SR2 probably depends a lot on computer performance.

 

You're not confusing the GTA 4 expansion with the Liberty City Stories spinoff are you?

 

My bad, sorry. I did in fact mean the BOGT+TLATD standalone release. Forget I ever mentioned LC Stories. Well spotted.